DC Generator Made From A Lawn Mower Engine And Alternator

I got a wild hair one day and decided to fabricate a poor mans generator from a lawn mower engine and a single wire alternator. I use it to power a battery bank consisting of three deep cell marine batteries. I connected an inverter to the battery bank to change the DC to AC and use it for power outages, camping, charging batteries, etc. Hope you like it!
- 5 HP Honda lawn mower engine Vertical Shaft
- Pulleys and Belt from Tractor Supply
- Aluminum Frame from Scrap Yard
- Positive & Negative Clamps, Voltage Meter, & Alternator from Advance Auto

The alternator was about $40.00 and was a tractor replacement. The kind that requires no wiring harness. It charges as soon as it starts turning. The system charges at 14.5 volts.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• DC
• AC
• generator
• alternator
• lawn
• mower
• engine
• fabricate
• make
• build
• home
• built
• project
• power
• inverter
• garage
• outage
• battery
• charger

[Jaimoore12]

why?

[Jaimoore12]

Sounds to me like you need a resistor or a rheostat to adjust the resistance from the alternator to the battery.

[SashNone]

It's better to use chain, i think... But it's steel great thing.

[Jaimoore12]

@SashNone why is chain better? It seems that it would be more difficult to adjust and replace!

[lonnie6890]

nice package, that has been around as long as the Delco Alt. 60 to 100 amp is a good charge though. Did you fab. or buy the bracket?

[Jaimoore12]

I fabricated it in the garage!

[desertRS]

how long does a tankfull last?

[pulesjet]

Cool Beans! Finally I found a use for the down shaft engine I have .. LOL

That's just the ticket to run some of my Prospecting Stuff.

[pulesjet]

Cool Beans! Finally I found a use for the down shaft engine I have .. LOL

[Sharky58]

could you use that to jump start a car when the battery dies?

[blacktomohawk]

well done thats a great camera

[SouthNJPC]

@Jaimoore12 plus the damn noise that would make!! Chains stretch and wear out faster than belts do.

[ESRepair]

cool ideal.how much it cost you to build that? -MrFixit

[CovertOperations12]

now just put wheels and a handle on it and ur ready to go!

[bigbear822516]

thats an awesome package im drawing plans now to build one to run off of a gasifier

[lcmtvbreath4]

a always get confused... what kind of alternator is best for this kind of project? explain it to me like I'm a little kid... well, not exactly a little kid, but you get what i mean. cause I want to do this and there are a lot of different kinds of alternators (some don't even kick "on" until you hit a certain rpm and i don't want that problem)